Mother of heroin addict to host public awareness forum in Northbrook

Event is Nov. 12 at Northbrook Public Library

P.J. Newberg has organized her second public forum to educate north-suburban residents about what she calls a killer poison seeping into their community. Heroin. (Jonathan Bullington, Chicago Tribune)

P.J. Newberg has seen heroin destroy her teenage daughter's life — transforming her from a warm and loving girl to an addict now serving a four-month sentence in a Cook County correctional drug treatment program.

The long-time Glenview resident is fighting back, organizing her second public forum to educate north-suburban residents about what she calls a "killer poison" seeping into their community.

"I've seen too many die just in this area," said Newberg, 51, who said she is a former certified addiction counselor. She lived in Glenview for almost 20 years before moving to Skokie.

Newberg's first forum was held in August at the Glenview Public Library. The second is scheduled for 7 p.m. Nov. 12 at the Northbrook Public Library, 1201 Cedar Lane. Featured speakers include Kathleen Kane-Willis, director of the Illinois Consortium on Drug Policy at Roosevelt University; Chad Sabora, a former Cook County prosecutor and recovering drug addict; and John Roberts, a former Chicago police captain and founder of the Heroin Epidemic Relief Organization who lost a son to heroin.

Experts and law enforcement officials say it's a warning that needs to be sounded in suburban communities. According to an August 2012 Illinois Consortium on Drug Policy study, heroin overdose deaths have increased from 2007 to 2011 by 115 percent in Lake County, 100 percent in Will County, and 50 percent in McHenry County.

A similar study conducted by the consortium in 2010 found a 27 percent increase in teens in suburban Cook County discharged from hospitals for heroin use from 2008 to 2009.

Glenview Deputy Police Chief Stefan Johnson said he first encountered heroin use among Glenview's youth some 23 years ago.

"Back then, we were shocked," he said. He has no statistics, but Johnson said he thinks heroin use has held steady in that time.

"We know it's here and that it leads to tragedy, and that one kid using it is far too many," he said.

No stranger to addiction, Newberg said she used drugs in high school and college and has been in recovery from alcoholism for 24 years. Despite her personal and professional background, she couldn't keep her only daughter from following a similar path.

"She was a wonderful child," Newberg recalled of her daughter, now 18. "She was really very outgoing and friendly. She was a great kid."

Through her mother, the daughter agreed to an interview at the Cook County Jail. But officials there would not allow a reporter to visit because arrangements had not been made in advance.

As the years passed, Newberg said she noticed a change in her daughter's behavior.

"She wouldn't come home when she was supposed to," Newberg said. "She wouldn't listen to her father or me. She just did what she wanted to do. She would come home and act different. I felt like she was under the influence of something."

Newberg said her daughter denied using drugs or alcohol. She took her daughter, then 16, to a hospital for treatment — without telling her the purpose of the visit. The teen tested positive for heroin, Newberg said, and despite protests was enrolled in a 28-day inpatient treatment program.

"The decline in her, I couldn't believe it," Newberg said of that time. "It was hard to spend a lot of time with her. She wasn't the fun-loving warm kid that you want to be around."

The teen eventually served four months of house arrest at her father's house, Newberg said. During that time, Newberg said she could find some peace knowing her daughter was not out on the streets.

The house arrest ended around August. But in October, the daughter was convicted on a theft charge, according to court records. A Skokie judge sentenced her to a four-month drug treatment program, Newberg said. Her mother said the arrest probably saved her daughter's life.

"My daughter was living on the streets doing whatever to get the drug," Newberg said. "She's not even my kid anymore. The addiction has completely ruined her life. It not only takes the person you are, it takes your soul … your spirit. I want her back so bad. I miss her so bad."

By hosting these forums, Newberg hopes to shed light on and educate parents and teens about the prevalence of the drug is in the north suburbs.

Meghan Murrin, 20, of Northfield, knows Newberg and her daughter through an addiction treatment program. In an interview, she talked about how people in the suburbs don't realize how widespread the problem is in their communities. Murrin said she started smoking pot in high school her freshman year, but quickly began using cocaine, acid and prescription pills.

"Every weekend I was trying a new drug," said Murrin, now the mother of a 5-month-old son. "I feel like in high school a lot of kids I knew started trying harder drugs."

On Oct. 3, 2009, while high on a mixture of pills and alcohol, Murrin said a guy she worked with shot her up with heroin for the first time.

"My heart stopped," she said. "I was pretty much dead for a little bit."

She said she hasn't used drugs since, and now spends her time caring for her son and working part time.

"I think at this point, I've known way too many kids who died from heroin to say it's just a coincidence," she said. "It's frightening how many people are saying someone died from overdosing on it."